SALT LAKE CITY — Shayla Leeks’ two children won’t open gifts until the phone rings on Christmas morning.
She wants their dad to hear the shouts and laughter in their Brigham City living room all the way from the Utah State Prison in Draper.
In any other year, Leeks’ family and many others would pile in their cars and travel to the prison to visit loved ones over the holidays. But like most other gatherings, the pandemic has called off quality time for inmates and their family members.
Families of inmates in the Utah State Prison have spent most of the year worrying for their loved ones’ health. Several are mourning after 11 who tested positive for COVID-19 later died, either at the prison or a hospital.
Although Nelson Houck has not yet fallen sick with the virus, Leeks worries it’s only a matter of time before he tests positive.
“He doesn’t want me to worry, but I can just hear it in his voice,” she said.
Her daughter, now 2 1/2, is talking more and asking, “When can I see Daddy?” she said.
“I don’t have an answer for her,” Leeks acknowledged, her voice catching. She tries to avoid crying in front of the kids or allowing Houck to hear her sniffle while they talk on the phone.
“He’s happy to hear the kids’ voices and my voice, you know?” she said. “That’s all he has to look forward to.”
The prison shut down visitation in March, and the policy has remained in place as outbreaks have sickened more than 2,500 prisoners in Utah. All but about 960 inmates are considered to have recovered, according to the Utah Department of Corrections.
While advocates have called for greater releases of those with health issues or near their parole dates, the Corrections Department has defended its handling of the virus.
The agency has offered most inmates 10 free phone calls a week, each up to 15 minutes long. It is also setting up a video call system and has recruited families to help test the system to find and address any glitches before a larger-scale rollout. The start date for the full version isn’t clear.
Some are scheduled for a virtual visit with their incarcerated loved ones Christmas Day, but others are puzzling over why the service is not yet up and running for each inmate.
“I appreciate that extra level of assurance that they’ll be good visits,” said Faye Jenkins with the Utah Prisoner Advocate Network. “But at the same time, it’s a long time with all the technology we have today, how this whole world has been converted to videoconferencing and meetings.”
As they’ve worked to get the video system running, prison employees have begun taking photos of some of those in the prison and sending them to family members.
Melissa Walker said she’s eager to catch a glimpse of her boyfriend, Jacorey Armstead.
“I would like to see how he’s doing and how much more gray hair he’s gained,” Walker said. “But that’s disheartening because only a handful of family members got pictures.”
She said she has concerns that he and other inmates aren’t getting proper meals that could help boost their strength so they can fend off the virus. So she’s been purchasing packets of snacks for him through a commissary service.
The couple loves hiking in City Creek Canyon, Walker said, so she plans to spend Christmas Day on the trails there.